In 1825, Alexis Bailly established an American Fur Company trading post on a bluff across the river from Fort Snelling. This trading station with Native Americans assumed the Dakota Indian name “Mdo-te” meaning “meeting of the waters” because it overlooked the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. In 1842, Father Galtier arrived in Mendota and built a log chapel to serve mass to the French-Canadian traders. The Church of St. Peter was replaced with this humble limestone structure in 1853 by Father Augustin Ravoux. St. Peter’s is the oldest Catholic church building in the state.
